Calag Archive

Cannibalism is one of the reactions of hens to the crowding of cage living. Debeaking at 12 to 17 weeks of age has provided a practical control of cannibalism in the past. The results of this trial show that early precision debeaking not only controlled cannibalism but also increased egg production, as compared with later debeaking.

Nursery experiments have shown that sulfur-coated urea was excellent as a slowly available form of nitrogen for ornamental plants in containers. Best plant growth resulted when the sulfur-coated urea was incorporated in the potting mix and the plants received fertilizer applications during the growing season. Even without additional fertilization, the controlled-release urea was able to supply adequate amounts of nitrogen for several months' growth. Excessively heavy applications resulted in plant injury and death.

Test plots for this water-use study were in a dry-farmed almond orchard, part of which was under non-tillage and part under clean cultivation. Soil moisture sampling showed that in years of heavy winter cover crop growth, more moisture was used out of the chopped than out of the cultivated plots. But the almond trees were remarkably able to stretch the available soil moisture supply almost to the end of the growing season.

The recent cutbacks in acreage allotments in the San Joaquin Valley have caused cotton ranchers with interests in oil-processing facilities to recognize the need for a supplemental oil crop, such as soybeans, to allow continued use of the facilities at or near capacity. Projected population increases in many parts of the world also indicate that a protein crop such as soybean could have increasing importance in meeting future food needs.

Sprouting of seeds, a physiological disorder in ripe canning tomatoes, has been observed in fruits harvested from various growing areas of California during the past several years. This disorder is of particular concern in the canning of whole tomatoes because the germinated seeds appear as, foreign materials. Green or pink colored fruits have not been observed to contain sprouted seeds. Fruits from the mechanical harvesting varieties VF 145 and VF 13L and selections from these lines have shown sprouted seeds. With some of the other varieties, reports of occurrence of the seed sprouting have been quite infrequent (table 1).

Clear polyethylene proved superior in these tests as a mulching material for strawberries in comparisons with colored polyethylene and petroleum mulch.

Nonpareil almond trees receiving metered rates of supplemental compatible pollen from a ground blower produced no increase in yield over control trees in tests reported here.